A SEEriously Good Time at the Discovery Museum!

When working for the Asteroid project, there are few things better than getting to see children enjoy the Asteroid 3D games! And let me tell you, our recent visit to the Discovery Museum was no exception. On Friday 28th October, the Asteroid research team, along with Teresa from the Newcastle Eye Health Clinic, got the chance to reach out to half-term museum goers and show them how fun Asteroid is. For a whole day, people were able to have a go at the Asteroid tablets, play some eye games, and have a look at some weird and wonderful optical illusions on display. Bean bags were involved – if that doesn’t spell out fun we don’t know what else will!

As the morning rolled on, more and more people stopped by the Asteroid area to find out about our research and have a go at some fun eye activities. Some even gave consent to take part in the study itself! Everyone seemed to particularly enjoy the optical illusions we had on show, especially the Moiré Effect and the Ames Room. For example, seeing a repetitive, overlapping pattern like the picture on the left creates the illusion of movement. This is the Moiré Effect in action.

The Ames Room, on the other hand, gives us insight on how our perception of the world around us works. The effect of the Ames room works best when it is seen through a peephole, in which case what you see would look like the picture on the right. Even though the room appears to be proportionally “normal”, it is actually built differently to most rooms. The floor is actually on an incline: The left side is lower than the right. The walls are also different – even though they look to be perpendicular to the floor, they are actually slanting outwards!

Everyone who took part in the activities seemed to really enjoy learning about the illusions on display. One visitor even expressed how much it showed her that “what you see isn’t always what you get”. Children of all ages came to play on the 3D tablets, which were by far the most popular choice for everyone who came by. In some parts of the afternoon, there were queues of excited youngsters waiting for their turn!

6 hours and countless bean bag throws later, it was time for the team to pack up and leave the museum. Before we left, we said goodbye to our friend from the Discovery Museum, Thomas Elwick, who was so accommodating throughout – he even had the chance to play on Asteroid himself! As the museum’s learning officer, he was keen on giving visitors a chance to learn more about how it’s not just our eyes that help us to see, but our brains as well. It was a brilliant day for the Asteroid team, and we hope that everyone we met enjoyed themselves just as much.